This invention relates generally to the art of bicycle racks, and, more particularly, to bicycle racks for mounting bicycles on motor vehicles.
As used herein, bicycle racks includes racks for motor propelled bicycles as well as self propelled bicycles.
Many motor-vehicle bicycle racks are difficult to attach to motor vehicles and some of them cause damage to the motor vehicles. With regard to the difficulty of attaching bicycle racks to motor vehicles, not only are motor vehicles constructed in different shapes and sizes, but the styles of new models are constantly changed from those of older models. For this reason, it is difficult for bicycle rack builders to make racks which can be easily mounted on many makes and models of vehicles. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a bicycle rack which can be easily mounted on a wide variety of motor vehicles.
Regarding causing damage to motor vehicles, some bicycle racks are made to be mountable on motor vehicle bumpers. Many of these racks require that one have access to top edges of bumpers, however, in many cases, because of the manner in Which modern motor vehicles are made, it is quite difficult to gain access to top bumper edges. Sometimes, in trying to gain such access, damage is caused to the bumpers or to other portions of the motor vehicles. Similarly, even when access can be easily gained to top edges of bumpers, such bumper mounted bicycle racks will sometimes scrape the bumpers. In the same manner, bicycle racks which are mounted on roofs of motor vehicles usually must grip roof gutters of the motor vehicles. However, gutters of various motor vehicles are constructed differently and for this reason hooks and the like of such racks do not always adequately grip them, or sometime damage them. Similar comments can be made with regard to bicycle racks mounted on trunks as well as on other surfaces of motor vehicles. It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a motor-vehicle bicycle rack which is easy to securely attach to a motor vehicle and which does not damage the vehicle.
Yet another difficulty with many prior-art motor-vehicle bicycle racks is that they are not completely safe. In this regard, some bicycle racks for motor vehicles are intrinsically unsafe, or they are so difficult to use that a user does not properly mount them on a vehicle and they thereby become unsafe. That is, even after bicycles are mounted on motor vehicles with racks, vibrations eventually cause the bicycles and/or the racks to fall from the motor vehicles. It is therefore, an object of this invention to provide a motor-vehicle bicycle rack which provides a stable mount for a bicycle such that it is virtually impossible for the bicycle and/or the mount to fall from the motor vehicle under normal circumstances.
It has been suggested to mount a bicycle on an exteriorly mounted spare tire, however, such suggested bicycle racks have not provided sufficient security for the bicycles. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a bicycle rack which does provide positive mounting security.